The Sun Won't Rise
by chuggaafan1
Summary: RWBY AU fic, based on creative freewrites done in class. Relies on Anime Logic, so don't think too hard about some of the more bizarre things. On a planet where the sun doesn't always shine, a passerby takes interest in a war veteran, sparking an event that changes his and his children's lives.
1. Chapter 1

The rising sun reveals much to us. This is not true, however, for the people of Umbra, a continent on the planet Twil. The world revolves around holing up at night, when creatures of shadow lurk. Creatures that lack a soul. When the sun rises, the creatures wither and die. This would all be fine, if the sun rises and sets as it does normally. However, in this world, it does not. An unidentified, foreign object collided with the planet several years ago. No one has been able to figure out what this object is; some say a simple meteor, others claim it is a spaceship, holding extraterrestrial life. The impact, combined with some mystic, foreign power from the object, changed Twil's rotation, leaving it in such a way where half of the planet basks in near-eternal sunlight, while the other half is drenched in unending darkness. The lucky and rich escaped to the sun-filled half of the planet, erecting a wall and dubbing it "Solaris". Those who stayed, willingly or not, built towns and cities, lighting them excessively well, and barricading them from the horrors of the dark. This is the continent of Umbra. It's not all bad, however. While the threat of monster attacks is certainly present, people have gotten mostly comfortable with their situation and lifestyle. Of the various civilizations, the largest and most populated is known as Beacon. The population is varied in age, race, and lifestyle, though even the richest folk are still only rich in comparison to everyone else. Criminal masterminds lurk in the shadows of shadows, inciting fear in those who aren't secure, but with how rarely they take action, life is generally comfortable. However, some seek to end this era of peace. The people of Solaria don't especially care for the people in Umbra, believing them to be fools who cling to "moldy tradition". Tensions rise, as the Umbrali believe Solarians to be uncaring, haughty and holier-than-thou. Naturally, someone has taken the opportunity to rally the people together, to stand against the people she wants the civilians to believe are the oppressors. In the middle of one of her routine rallies, two teenage girls sit back and contemplate their situation.

"There must be some kind of way out of here.", spoke a short, black-haired girl. Under the light of a lamp, the ends of her hair could be seen transferring to a dark red color. Her attire was primarily black-a t-shirt with red buttons, a red tank top peeking out of the collar, but her shirt and pants were black. She only stood up to 5'2. At her side, she held a plastic bag with a carton of milk in it.  
"Of course there is, Rubes." Spoke a golden-blonde woman, with hair barely reaching to her shoulders. She, on the other hand, was rather tall. The most notable thing about her was her right arm...or perhaps, a lack of one, from just above the elbow down. In its place was a metallic replacement, with red lights traveling up and down it, showing the blood pumping through it. It had the logo for Schnee Corporation on it. She wore what could only be described as a dark brown, waist-length trenchcoat, with a yellow crop top covering it. She wore jeans down to her ankles. "It isn't safe out there, though. This should be obvious."  
"No, I don't mean the dome." she said. "I mean...the situation, y'know? The fact that we're stuck in a city of people ready to throw everything away and fight people who aren't gonna hurt us." The short girl sighed.  
These girls are Ruby and Yang Xiao Long; half-sisters, and daughters to Taiyang Xiao Long. They had gone out to get some milk for their dad, who was slowly sinking deeper and deeper into depression. They just happened to stop at a certain rally to contemplate things.  
"I get that it sucks, but you can't let it get under your skin." Yang said, clutching her right shoulder. "There are far worse things to be worrying about."  
"Is that your response to everything?" asked Ruby.  
"...Maybe." Yang responded. "Whatever, we should probably get home. The milk'll get warm."  
"Beats the hell outta sitting here, honestly." Ruby said, bitterness in her voice.  
Back at their house, Tai was at the door, speaking to a man with orange hair and a black bowler hat. He wore a white dress shirt with a gold trim, and black dress pants. He carried a cane with him. Tai on the other hand just had a T-shirt with a short-and-red-haired boy's cartoon face on it and some wool pajama bottoms.  
"Are you sure you don't wanna join us, Mr. Xiao Long? You'd get free healthcare for your whole family, life insurance, and even an additional shelter for your kids if you can't pay this place off!" asked the man, in a suave, somewhat high-pitched voice.  
"I'm quite sure, thank you." responded Tai. "I've retired from fighting, and no unnecessary wars like this one will drag me back in." He then closed the door.  
The man walked away, bending his cane in frustration. "For hell's sake, Cinder, force would make this a LOT easier..." he muttered. He passed by Ruby and Yang, catching a glimpse at them. "On the other hand...so might that."

Yang knocked on the door with her left hand. Tai opened the door for them.

"There you kids are! You got the milk, yeah?" he asked.

"Right here, dad." said Yang, holding up the plastic bag. Tai grabbed it from her, putting it in the fridge.

"So, how was your day?" asked Tai, getting some things out of a cupboard by the fridge. He got some vegetables, a couple of knives, and salt and pepper shakers.

"It was...fine, I suppose." responded Ruby. "One of the kids got suspended for blackmailing, can you believe that?" she asked, emptying her pockets. She pulled out a pen, some scrap paper, standard school stuff.

"Was it that Winchester kid?" Tai asked. "I bet it was him." He took some raw beef from the fridge and began cutting it with one of the knives he pulled out.

"Yeah, and absolutely no one was surprised. Kid couldn't do his homework if it was written for him." said Yang. She began emptying her pockets, but there was a certain plastic wrapper she didn't want Taiyang seeing, as well as a bottle cap in each pocket.

Tai began chopping vegetables up with the other knife. "Alright, dinner's cooking, why don't you two get changed and washed up?"

"Alright." Yang replied, walking back to their room. Ruby didn't respond, but followed Yang. She seemed to have something on her mind.


	2. Chapter 2

It was a warm day in Haven. A short, white-haired girl with a ponytail stormed out of an office building, seemingly steaming. Her white dress, transitioning to a sky blue as it reached the ends, matched her hair quite nicely, as did her long-sleeved top with a similar style. She stomped her way down the street, or as much as she could in high heels. The cityscape around her was exactly as it always was, busy and bustling, with people in increasingly shrinking cars going to and from work on their same 9 to 5 schedule. The students didn't need to work; their parents just paid for whatever they needed. The girl didn't mind this life, it was simple and easy.

But then again, with her position, who would?

The girl stopped at her house. She produced a key from her pocketbook and unlocked her front door, stepping in and slamming the door behind her, letting out a frustrated groan.

"Bad day at school, Weiss?" asked a decidedly middle-aged voice.

"No, mother, school was fine," responded Weiss, clearly annoyed. "It's...dad, again."

"What did you do this time?" asked her mother.

"I simply voiced my complaints with his actions at work!" Weiss explained, frustration coming out more and more.

"Did you yell at him?" her mother questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"...Define 'yell-'" Weiss began.

"You yelled at him," her mother interjected, cutting Weiss off. "What did he do?"

"He sent me to _Umbral_ for six months!" Weiss exclaimed.

" _Umbral_? Well, I almost agree with you there... _almost,_ " She said. "Pack your bags, Weiss."

Weiss gave an incredibly upset groan as she returned to her room. She packed as much as she could into two suitcases―clothes, books, dust, _et cetera._ Punishments like this weren't entirely unusual, sadly. Weiss's father often sent her to other cities in Solaris, ones that are far away, where she didn't know people and was far away from her parents' money, but sending her to Umbral was a special kind of evil.

Weiss left after dinner. Her father didn't make it home for dinner, as usual, so her mother and she just ate in awkward silence. She locked the front door behind her and walked down the street, all the way to the intercontinental train station. It seemed downright derelict―who would want to go to a dirty and poor place like Umbral? It was dusty, there was trash scattered about, there were broken windows...it wasn't a pretty sight. Despite this, there was one other person there. A woman who was a little taller than Weiss, sitting on a bench. Her hair was a bright red, with a ponytail down the back. She wore a deep maroon blouse, and black dress pants―her outfit seemed much more fit for Umbral. Compared to Weiss's two suitcases, the girl only had a backpack. She turned to face Weiss.

"Hello, are you-" she began, before covering her mouth with her hand and gasping. "...Weiss?" she asked. "Weiss Schnee?"

"...That would be me, yes," responded Weiss. A look of confusion sprawled itself across her face. She squinted at this woman for a moment, trying to imagine her without her ponytail―her face seemed familiar...then it hit her. "...Polly? Apollo, is that _you_? What's with your hair, and your getup, and...everything?!"

"My name's, erm, Pyrrha, now," She responded. "I've discovered that identify more as female, since we've last met," Pyrrha explained.

"...Oh. _Oooohhhh,_ " Weiss said. A look of, primarily, confusion spread across Weiss's face as she thought about what that would entail, but she decided to put it behind her. "Anyways, what are you doing here?"

"I'm running away," Pyrrha said, bluntly. "People don't care about who I am, just what I do. I'll show them what it's like without their star." she explained.

"Wow, that's terrible. How did they react to...uh, that?" Weiss asked, gesturing to Pyrrha's clothes.

"They couldn't've cared less, honestly," Pyrrha responded. "As long as I kept them well-off," she continued, bitterness in her voice. "Anyways, why are YOU going to Umbral?"

"I...got upset at father," Weiss explained. "He sent me down as punishment, can you believe that?" she asked.

"That's terrible! Did you yell at him?" Pyrrha asked.

"Why does everyone keep assuming that?"

"You yelled at him," Pyrrha correctly assumed. "Good for you, honestly-he's deserving of far worse."

"Tell me about it..." Weiss responded.

After that, there was a short period of waiting before a train pulled in. Compared to the derelict station, the train seemed well-kept. Weiss flashed a ticket that her father purchased, while Pyrrha got one for herself earlier. The train was mostly empty, as expected, but there was one more person there. At the end of the train, sat a man in what appeared appeared to be black samurai garb. His hair was a bright red, and was spiked back. He wore a black fedora over his forehead, covering his eyes and the front part of his hair. He was looking down at his phone, not paying attention to the girls stepping aboard. Weiss and Pyrrha picked up the former's suitcases together and put them on a rack above the seats, while the latter just kept her backpack on hand. The two girls began talking about things that the other had missed while they'd been apart, while the man looked up at the two of them.

"bad news" said a text message he sent.

"Oh, what is it now?!" the other person responded.

"weve got a schnee going to beacon"

"You can not be serious."

The man took a picture of the two girls talking, and sent it to the other person.

"Motherfucker, that's a Schnee."

"want me to just kill them now"

"No no no that's just going to cause uproar, Adam. Besides, she seems young. She probably doesn't know who we are."

"fair enough, itd cost you extra anyways"

"You drive a hard bargain. Look, just find Belladonna, bring her ALIVE, and you'll get your pay."

"aight"

Adam put his phone in sleep mode, and promptly decided to take a nap himself-this was going to be a long train ride.


	3. Chapter 3

Ruby and Yang shared a bedroom. It was fairly small, only really having the two girls' beds on opposite sides of the room, a drawer in the middle with a lamp and radio on it, and separate bureaus at the feet of the beds. On Ruby's side, there was a poster for some boy band she liked, while Yang's side had a painting of Tai, her, and her mother, done when Yang was newly born. It upset her thinking of her mother, but removing it seems to be a quick way to make her worse. Yang had a bra and a pair of panties on, but nothing else, while Ruby only wore a pair of boxers.

"So, what...or, who, did you do today?" Ruby asked, looking through her bureau for something comfortable.

"Winchester," replied Yang. She detached her mechanical arm after powering it off, placing a plastic "sock" around the connector on her stub.

"Gross!" replied Ruby, before making a "yuck"-ish noise.

"He was bullying Ren! If I had left it to Nora, he'd be in the hospital," Yang explained. "Plus, I'm not gonna get caught. I can hide my evidence," she said, winking. "It seems like he couldn't."

Ruby simply repeated her disgusted noise.

"Anyways...hey, are you ever gonna tell dad about...you know..." Yang said.

Ruby sighed. "Not unless some miracle happens," she said. "You've seen him. He can barely get out of his bed if he's not cooking. I don't need him to worry about another thing," she explained.

"You know he's not going to mind," Yang responded.

"It's better to be safe than sorry," Ruby said.

"Whatever. I'm gonna go shower now," Yang said, walking out of the room. Ruby just sat on her bed, alone. No one but her thoughts keeping her company. She thought of what Yang said, and she imagined scenarios where she did tell Tai her little secret. She always imagined them going horribly wrong. Eventually she found something in her bureau that she liked. Yang walked back in the room, one towel around her body and another over her head, attempting to cover her hair.. "Your turn, Rubes," she said. Ruby stood and walked down to the bathroom, and now Yang was on her own. She sat on her bed and thought to herself about the day. How she had overheard Cardin Winchester's butt buddies talk about Ruby, and how she wasn't going to just let that happen. How she managed to clean her trail, leaving Cardin to break the school's policies without a second suspect. It was certainly an eventful day for her, and Yang would have fallen asleep there if dinner weren't being prepared. Eventually, she finished drying, removed her towels, and picked out some clothes from her bureau. Ruby walked back in as she was putting on an orange tank top with a flame emblem on it. It's not often people got to wear bright colored clothes; they were taught from youth to wear dark clothes to blend in with the scenery to the beasts of the night. In their own house, though, it wasn't as important. Ruby put on a tank top of a similar shape, but it was black with a red rose emblem on it. The shirt appeared to be rather beat up, with some rips and stains in it–it was a hand-me-down. Ruby had a pair of pants with a wolf-like print on them, while Yang had light brown shorts.

The two walked out to the kitchen, where Tai was setting the table for them. He had prepared a hearty meal of steak and a variety of vegetables, with a glass of milk on the side for Ruby and a soda for Yang. Yang's steak was pre-cut for her.

"So, Roman, I've heard that your grades in combat training are slipping." Tai said, after downing some water.

It took Ruby a moment to realize she was being talked to. She swallowed some of her steak. "U-Uh, yeah..." she responded.

"It's sorta concerning. You wanted to be a guardian, right?" Tai asked.

"O-Of course I do! But...none of the weapons the school offers really...work for me," Ruby responded.

"Oh? How so?" Tai asked.

"Well, I'm no good with one-handed weapons, and all they have for two-handed weapons are maces, axes, spears...Nothing I enjoy using," she explained. "It's hard to be invested in training if I don't like the weapons, y'know?"

"I just hope, for your sake, you find something you like. I don't want you flunking," Tai said. "BCE lets you take in your own weapon, right?" he asked, eating another bit of steak. "Why don't we take a look at a shop this weekend?"

Ruby's eyes lit up. "Really?!" she asked, excitedly.

"Sure," Tai responded. The family mostly made smalltalk for the rest of dinner. Mostly, they discussed the non-combat aspects of school, how some of the teachers were incredibly strict while others didn't give a damn, and how the kids got away with anything. When dinner was finished, Tai still had another steak, one that was fairly warm. He stood up and carried it with him outside. This was something he did often-if he had substantial enough leftovers, he'd take it to a more populated part of town and feed some of the folk who weren't as fortunate as him. It was a habit that his previous wife got him into.

"It's getting kinda late," said Yang, yawning.

"Yeah...Let's go to bed," replied Ruby, echoing Yang's yawn. The two of them placed their plates by the sink and retreated to their room. Ruby fell asleep almost immediately. Yang got back up, but Ruby assumed she was just getting water, and didn't pay it much mind.

Of course, someone who was most definitely NOT Yang returned to their room.


End file.
